meet your guides

At the Sunken Shala, our teachers are more than instructors - we are long time practitioners, curious students, and space holders. Our team brings a deeply personal approach to every practice weaving together the threads that make up the very tapestry of our peaceful sanctuary. We are here to walk alongside you, offering thoughtful sequencing, encourage intuitive practices, and invite you to deepen your awareness of the connection to the mind, body, breath and soul.

Alexa

 
Guiding Mindful Unwind: Stretch & Flow

Alexa completed her YTT 200 in Spring of 2025 and steps onto the mat as a first year teacher at the Shala with radiant enthusiasm to begin guiding and deepening her own practice. Her approach and invitation on the mat is open, curious and deeply attuned to the natural world.

Outside the studio, Alexa’s reverence for nature is central to her life and work through Grounded Botanicals, LLC. What began as a personal passion for hands on plant medicine has grown into a trusted botanical practice rooted in respect for plants, people, and the cycles of the earth. She brings that same deliberate care straight into her teaching offering every student a grounded and purposeful space.

Outside of the studio you can find Alexa near the water, enjoying the outdoors, or cooking a meal. She is honored to work with you and to walk alongside you on your wellness journey.

Emily

 
Guiding Soul Flow: Vinyasa Slow Flow

Emily brings a deep, personal reverence to her classes, rooted in over 15 years of practice. After completing her YTT 200 in the spring of 2025, she has mindfully stepped into the role of a guide, finding immense joy in sharing the practice that has supported her for so long.

Her teaching is grounded, approachable and inspired by her connection to the earth. When she isn’t holding space in the Shala, you can usually find Emily soaking up the outdoors - hiking, backpacking, getting her hand in the dirt of her garden or cooking a nourishing meal. She is so excited to welcome you into this space and grow alongside our beautiful new community.

Hope

 
Guiding Soul Flow: Slow Vinyasa, The Sacred Study: Architecture of the Soul, and Sunken Stillness: Yin Yoga

Hope steps onto the mat with an energy that is both deeply grounding and vibrantly alive. A dedicated lover of movement, her personal practice currently centers on hot yoga - a space where she finds focus, challenge, and sweat drenched presence.

Her deep connection to the natural world shapes every aspect of her life. Beyond the Shala, Hope works as a landscaper and is the founder of Sprouts of Hope, a venture that fresh starts are always rooted in care. Proud to represent women in STEM, she brings thoughtful intentional approach to everything she nurtures whether its outdoor landscapes, her business, or the students in her class.

Hope completed her YTT 200 in 2021 in Portugal and taught yoga internationally across Europe. She brings that same adventurous, open-hearted spirit to the studio. When she isn’t working or teaching, you’ll find Hope out on the trails backpacking with her favorite companion, her dog Nora.

Jaime 

Guiding Sacred Pause: Gentle Yoga, The Inner Sanctuary: Meditation & Breathwork, Sunken Stillness: Yin Yoga, The Ritual: Movement & Reflection

Jaime’s journey to the mat and opening The Sunken Shala is one of resilience, nourishment, and deep transformation. Introduced to yoga 17 years ago by her providers during a deeply personal battle with Anorexia Nervosa. She was instantly captured by the power of pranayama (breathwork) and the yogic practice of santosha (contentment). Yoga has become her grounding sanctuary and a place of healing that would prove vital through life’s most defining shift and recovery.

After undergoing a spinal fusion and spinal reconstruction Jaime’s movement took on a whole new depth. She completed her initial YTT 200 in 2024 followed by a second YTT 200 in 2025. These experiences deeply shaped both her practice and her perspective of life with an “upgraded” spine.

Jaime brings an intentional anatomical awareness and physical insight to her teaching and in her classes she creates a nurturing and compassionate space for everybody. She gently invites you to embrace mindful, modified movement, deep, soul-centered breath and healing. When she isn’t you’ll find her with her pups Henry & Higgins and listening to live music with her partner of 25 years.

Julie

 
Guiding The Shala Release: Myofascial Integration, Sunken Stillness: Yin Yoga

Julie brings a rich depth of passion and experience to the mat guiding students through the intentional practices in Hatha, Power, Restorative, and Yin Yoga. Blending strength, stillness and soul, her teaching invites you to move mindfully, breathe deeply and reconnect with yourself.

As a proud graduate of both Boise State University and Gonzaga University, Julie’s grounded approach is shaped by years of study, a lifelong commitment to wellness and the practical wisdom gained from balancing a vibrant family and professional life.

She is dedicated to fostering intentional communities built on empowerment, connection and holistic well-being- ensuring that whether you’re flowing through a dynamic sequence or sinking into quiet stillness, you feel supported and met where you are.

Off the mat, Julie’s heart stays centered around her family. She is a devoted wife to her husband Larry, and a proud mom to three incredible kids. Her home (and life) are made all the sweeter by Yogi and Booberry the family’s two playfully beloved dogs.

Kathyrn

Guiding Soul Flow: Slow Vinyasa

For Kathryn, yoga has been a lifelong sanctuary, transitioning naturally from a dedicated personal practice into two and a half years of guiding others on the mat. In sweet full circle moment, she completed her YTT 200 alongside Jaime in 2024 - a shared connection that makes being part of this new Shala community all the more special.

Kathryn teaches intuitive Vinyasa and feel good flows, creating movement that invites you to drop into your body, shake off stress and simply feel good.Her classes are an open invitation to explore movement with playfulness, ease, and steady breath.

When she isn’t in the studio, Kathryn is usually immersed int beauty of the Idaho wilderness - whether she’s out hiking, backpacking, capturing moments through film and photography, or tending to her garden. At the end of the day, her favorite place to be is at home, relaxing and cuddling with her sweet cat, Benjii.

Katie

 
Guiding Somatic Wall Release: Gravity, Rest & Digest

With over 25 years spent exploring movement as both an art and a path to well-being, Katie’s practice spans Yin, Restorative, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kaiut Yoga, and Yamuna Body Rolling. A professional dancer and choreographer, her career includes performing with the Los Angeles Opera and serving as an original teaching artist for Everybody Dance!, a nationally recognized foundation honored by First Lady Michelle Obama.

As a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and co-founder and director of Clinical Training for the national nonprofit Eating Disorder Provider Education Network (EDPEN), Katie has long integrated yoga into her work supporting individuals through eating disorder recovery and mental health healing - using mindful movement to regulate the nervous system, cultivate self- compassion, and rebuild body trust.

Whether teaching yoga or dance, Katie believes movement is an invitation to reconnect with our innate wisdom. Her wall support classes emphasize curiosity over performance, cultivating strength, ease and presence while honoring the unique story each body carries. For Katie, the beauty of movement lies in feeling one’s own essence: “By feeling our own true nature, we are uplifted to this cathedral of ourselves… feeling connected to all that surrounds us and becoming fearlessly free.”

Kierra

 
Guiding Inner Sanctuary: Meditation & Breathwork

For Kierra, yoga and meditation are invitations to discover who we are, again and again. With 15 years of yoga practice and a dedicated meditation path shaped by intensive coaching, she relies on these practices to cultivate peace, approach life’s joys and challenges with authentic perspective, and nurture the body through deep relaxation.

As a lifelong dance, Kierra is naturally drawn to the beauty of Vinyasa flow, blending breath and movement into a powerful moving meditation. Her classes weave creative, intuitive sequences with plenty of space for each student to explore their own unique expression.

As she finishes her YTT 200, Kierra is so excited to join the community at the Shala, and is guiding stillness through mediation currently as she prepares to guide more mindful movement on the mat very soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • “Shala” is the traditional Sanskrit word for a home, place or sanctuary dedicated to practice. Our studio is nestled just below street level in a cozy basement space in historic downtown Boise. Being step-down from the busyness of the street creates a quiet, peaceful cocoon away for the daily noise - a true sanctuary to turn your attention inward.

  • We are located in historic downtown Boise on 8th Street, commonly referred to as BoDo. Because our space sits below street level, look for our entryway sign and follow the staircase down into the building. Take a moment to take in the beauty of the building. Enter the studio leaving the daily rush at the door as you find yourself sinking into the sanctuary.

  • We’ve designed The Sunken Shala to feel like a cozy, grounded sanctuary. Think soft, warm lighting, natural wood accents, exposed brick and beams, and our very own historic vault door. We hope you will find every detail of the space deliberate and intentional so you can drop into a deeply relaxing, nervous system resetting, restorative space the moment you step in.

  • Not at all. We believe yoga is a practice of tuning in, not achieving a specific pose. One of our favorite mantras is by Bernie Clark, “We don’t use the body to get into the pose, we use the pose to get into the body” and we would add, “to get into the soul.” Our class offerings range from gentle, meditative reset sessions, wall or chair supported to accessible flows. Modifications and prop options are abundantly encouraged so you can honor what your body needs on a given day.

  • We offer flexible pass and membership options to support both new practitioners and dedicated community members:

    • Discover the Shala (New Student Intro): $50 for 2 weeks of unlimited classes- the best way to explore our schedule and experience our different teaching styles.

    • Shala Kindred Unlimited (First 30 members): $115/month (monthly auto-renew) for full, unlimited access to all regularly scheduled classes.

    • Shala Senior Unlimited: $85/month for unlimited access to classes scheduled between 6:00 AM and 2:00 PM

    • Shala Student Unlimited: $95/month for unlimited access with active student status.

    • Single Drop In: $20 per class

  • We provide mats, bolsters, blocks, straps, blankets, and RAD rounds, as well as tennis balls. We have a variety of textures and density options for props and many are hand filled with buckwheat husks and lavender. You are welcome to bring your personal mat if you prefer, along with a water bottle and comfortable clothes you can move and breathe it. Water and hot tea are always available before or after class. Come as you are.